Carlson returns, has goal, assist in Capitals win against Blackhawks

WASHINGTON -- John Carlson had a goal and an assist in his first game since Dec. 23, and the Washington Capitals defeated the Chicago Blackhawks 6-1 at Capital One Arena on Thursday.

The defenseman missed 36 games while recovering from a skull fracture and laceration of the temporal artery he sustained when he was hit in the head with a slap shot against the Winnipeg Jets.
"Obviously, I wasn't expecting to play a perfect game, no one ever does, but it was nice to be back under fire," Carlson said.
Carlson had a secondary assist at 8:12 of the third period on Nicklas Backstrom's power-play goal that gave the Capitals a 4-0 lead. Carlson then made it 5-0 at 1:04 with a wrist shot from the point, also on the power play.
"We missed him," Washington goalie Darcy Kuemper said. "In my position, definitely missed him out there. We've been watching all the hard work he's been putting in to get back. To see someone go through something so scary and then make a comeback like that, and then have that performance, was pretty special."

Alex Ovechkin and Backstrom each had a goal and an assist for the Capitals (34-31-8), who had lost three straight (0-2-1). Dylan Strome had two assists, and Kuemper made 27 saves after missing two games because of an upper-body injury.
Washington pulled within four points of the Pittsburgh Penguins for the second wild card into the Stanley Cup Playoffs from the Eastern Conference with Pittsburgh's 3-2 loss at the Dallas Stars on Thursday.
"I think as a team we played a good game," Carlson said. "It's nice to get some jump, get some real nice plays by everyone tonight. And I think any time you come back, you want to win, that's the most important thing. So yeah, I'm excited."
Nikita Zaitsev scored for the Blackhawks (24-41-6), who have lost three in a row by a combined score of 15-3. Anton Khudobin made 22 saves in his first game since Jan. 15, 2022, with the Dallas Stars following hip surgery last March.
"It's definitely tough right now," Chicago forward Tyler Johnson said. "It's a little embarrassing. We have to play a lot better. We're not sticking to our structure, not sticking to our system and kind of just out there right now, and we've got to compete and play a lot harder for each other."

Conor Sheary gave the Capitals a 1-0 lead at 10:15 of the first period, intercepting a pass by Khudobin and scoring into the open net.
Anthony Mantha made it 2-0 at 10:33 when he got to a loose puck in the slot following a face-off and scored on a high shot stick side.
Nic Dowd extended it to 3-0 at 1:27 of the second period, receiving a pass from Aliaksei Protas on the rush and scoring far side with a wrist shot from the left face-off circle.
"I think we started chasing them a bit," Blackhawks coach Luke Richardson said. "It was in the second period they scored early, and then we got a power play and we really kind of got off routine and we started chasing them around. Even on the power play, they hemmed us pretty good there with their two penalty-killers working hard."

Backstrom pushed it to 4-0 at 8:12, knocking in a loose puck when Strome's centering pass deflected off Connor Murphy's skate in front of the crease during a power play.
Zaitsev cut it to 5-1 at 3:08 following Carlson's goal, scoring on a wrist shot from the point through a screen. Ovechkin then scored on a breakaway at 14:56 for the 6-1 final.
Chicago finished 0-for-5 on the power play; Washington was 2-for-4.
"I thought the special teams were really good," Capitals coach Peter Laviolette said. "There [were] some back-to-back-to-back kills there early on in the game where the penalty kill had to step up and do the job, so I thought that they were good. It's nice to have [Kuemper] healthy and back. It's nice to have [Carlson] healthy and back."
NOTES: Blackhawks forward Philipp Kurashev left the game early in the first period with an upper-body injury after a hit from Capitals forward Tom Wilson. Richardson said Kurashev was "sore" and will be evaluated Friday. … It was Zaitsev's first goal since April 3, 2022, a span of 51 games. … Ovechkin has 10 points (five goals, five assists) in a six-game point streak.